JP2000343798A - Bar code check printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To sufficiently check printing for ensuring a printing quality of bar codes by comparing and detecting printer's printing with printing data in real time. SOLUTION: Printing data of a printing mechanism is stored in a printing data image memory 12, and reused for comparing printed results with data read by an image sensor 17. A density threshold value of read dots can be set at a detecting/storing part 14. When read data has a larger density than the density threshold value, the read data is compared with printing data at the time. If dots are present in both data, read dots are detected as normal and stored in an image memory 15. On the other hand, if print dots are not present whereas read dots are present, the read dots are processed and detected as abnormal and then stored in the image memory 15. Likewise, also when the read data has the density not exceeding the density threshold value, whether the data is normal/abnormal is processed by printing data. The comparison and detection operation is carried out for every dot to a scanning direction of the image sensor 17.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a bar code check printer, and more particularly to a bar code check printer for reading and checking a printed bar code by an image sensor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printer having a print check function generally only stores image data read by an image sensor in a memory and then compares the print data with the image data. As a means for judging the quality of the print data while printing, black solid printing or white solid printing is performed, and the data is read into a memory and inspected.

For example, a bar code printing apparatus with a bar coat identification function disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-138831 reads a printed bar code with a CCD sensor.
The read image data is compared with the original data printed after being stored in the frame memory unit.

In the bar code printing apparatus with the bar coat identification function, the read data is temporarily stored in the memory, and after the printing is completed, the printing result and the printing data are compared and detected. Occurs.

Further, an automatic print barcode inspection apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 1-318181 sequentially reads print barcodes in accordance with read timing, and converts the print barcodes into numerical print barcode data. The displayed bar code is displayed and compared with the value of the bar code to be originally printed to determine whether or not the printed bar code is correctly printed.

That is, the result of comparing black and white (white on paper and black on printing) in a comparator and bar code data to be printed are sampled by a clock used as scan timing to determine a difference between black and white. are doing.

[0007]

However, in the printing bar code automatic inspection apparatus, one bar code can be read about twice in correspondence with the printing speed (paper transport speed). The number of readings cannot be said to be sufficient to guarantee the printing quality of the barcode.

That is, since detection is performed only twice, when there is an abnormal portion other than the normally detected portion,
It is possible that “the determination result is normal, but the print result is abnormal”.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a bar code check printer capable of shortening a comparison detection operation and performing a sufficient print check to guarantee a bar code print quality.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, a bar code check printer according to the present invention is a bar code check printer having a print check function for checking a bar code printed on paper. It is characterized in that printing and dots read by an image scanner for each dot of print data are compared and detected in real time.

[0011] With the above configuration, in a bar code check printer having a print check function for checking a bar code printed on paper, printing by the printer and dots read by the image scanner for each dot of print data are performed. , Detected in real time. As a result, the comparison detection operation can be shortened, and a sufficient print check can be performed to guarantee the print quality of the barcode.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a barcode check printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a bar code check printer 1
0 has a control unit 11, a print data image memory 12, an image sensor controller 13, a detection / storage unit 14, a post-detection image memory 15, a print head 16, and an image sensor 17.

The control unit 11 controls the printing of a barcode on a sheet, and the print data image memory 12 develops image data of the barcode to be printed.

The image sensor 17 is controlled by the image sensor controller 13 to read the printed barcode and check whether the barcode is printed correctly or has been printed as a barcode. The read data of the image sensor 17 is stored in the image sensor controller 1.
After the correction process is performed by a known technique in 3, the data is output as read data.

The output read data is input to a detection / storage unit 14, which detects density information read from the image sensor 17 as to whether or not dots to be printed are printed for each dot. Are compared and detected, and the quality of the printed barcode is determined. Detection / storage unit 14
The comparison detection result of the printing by
5 is stored.

When printing, the print head 1
6 is controlled by the printing mechanism (control unit 11) so that the distance between the bar code printing position and the reading start position of the image sensor 17 is synchronized by the printing mechanism (control unit 11). Since this series of printing operations is the same as in the related art, a detailed configuration related to a printing mechanism such as printing and conveyance is omitted.

When the bar code print data and the read data are compared and detected, the print data image memory 12
The print data image, which is the image data actually printed, and the read data output from the image sensor controller 13 are input to the detection / storage unit 14, and after comparison and detection of printing are performed, the data is stored in the image memory 15 after detection. I do.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a dot information bit arrangement in the image memory after detection. According to the dot information bit arrangement format shown in FIG. 2, the comparison detection result after detection is stored in the image memory 15 after detection, so that error information and density information at the time of reading can be identified.

When performing comparative detection, an operation is performed so as to compare the relationship between read data and print data based on the density threshold value in the detection / storage section 14. In the present invention, there are three density thresholds, and the density levels are set in three stages so that the image sensor 17 can read the density.

For example, first, a normal state in which normal printing is performed, second, a state in which printing is not performed, and third, a standard state in which printing is performed and print quality is assured as a printer are set. .

Thus, the read data read by the image sensor 17 can be determined by the three density thresholds. Further, the quality of the print data and the read data are determined by including the actually printed print image data in the detection condition. Note that the number of density thresholds is not limited to three, but may be two or four or more, and the density level can be set in arbitrary plural stages.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a detection result of pass / fail judgment by comparison detection. As shown in FIG. 3, if the read data is IM1 for the print image data,
Since there is a dot printed in the print image data, the detection / storage unit 14 operates to compare the density threshold level as the print density level.

If the density level of the actual read data IM1 is the print level, the image data IM1 is stored in the image memory 15 after detection, assuming that the print data is present, like the detection data a.

If the density level of IM1 is lower than the print level and is at the print quality limit level, the data stored in the image memory 15 after detection is stored as a result such as the detection data c. If the density level of IM1 is such that printing is not performed, the data stored in the image memory 15 after detection is the detection data b
become that way.

The detected data a, b, and c are represented in a format such as "dot information bit array in the image memory after detection" (see FIG. 2), and further, error information and density level are added. After the detection, it is possible to easily inspect which dot has an error later.

That is, the above-described bar code check printer 10 has a mechanism for printing a bar code on paper, stores print data in the printing mechanism in the print data image memory 12, and prints a print result on the image sensor 17.
It is reused for comparison with the data read by.

The image data read by the image sensor 17 is controlled by the image sensor controller 13 to control the image sensor 17.
7 outputs the read data from the image sensor controller 13 as read data. The read data at this time is data including density information for each dot.

The print image data on the print data image memory 12 and the image sensor controller 13
Has been subjected to position correction corresponding to the print position and the position of the print dot in advance, and the read data is targeted for the target dot of the print data.
This is input to the detection / storage unit 14.

The density threshold of read dots can be set in the detection / storage section 14. If the read data is darker than the density threshold, the print data at that time is compared with the presence of print dots. As a result of the comparison, when it is recognized that there is a dot on both sides, the read dot is detected as normal and stored in the image memory 15. On the other hand, when there is no print dot and there is a read dot, it is processed as abnormal and detected. After that, it is stored in the message memory 15.

Similarly, if the read data does not exceed the density threshold, the print data is used to determine whether the data is normal or abnormal.

The above-described comparison detection processing operation is performed for each dot in the scanning direction of the image sensor 17, and can be performed at an unprecedented processing speed.

Two or more density thresholds can be set. For comparison detection of read data, a high density threshold is used for dots where print data is supposed to exist, and high density thresholds are used for dots where print dots should not exist. On the other hand, a low concentration threshold is used.
Further, in the detection operation using the high density threshold, if the actual read data is read at a low density level due to print blurring or the like, it is processed as a warning operation without causing a dot abnormality, and is stored in the image memory 15 after detection. Can be stored.

For this reason, as a result of the detection of the print data, it is possible to judge the abnormal print operation, the print operation having a low density level but the print result can be guaranteed, and the normal print operation. Become.

Therefore, compared to the conventional printed bar code automatic inspection apparatus, which can only be read about twice, which is not enough to guarantee the print quality of the bar code,
The barcode check printer 10 according to the present invention can compare and detect in real time the dots printed by the printer and the dots read by the image scanner for each dot of the print data.

That is, by using two or more pieces of density information in the comparison detection, the read dot data can be dot-managed simultaneously with the error level, and the comparison detection is performed for each read dot. Real-time detection of each print dot to be performed can be realized.

As described above, according to the present invention, in a printer on which a barcode is printed, the barcode printed by the image sensor is read, and the barcode can be normally read based on the density level of the arbitrarily set density threshold. Determine whether or not it was printed.

Therefore, by comparing the print data with the read data read by the image sensor and performing the comparison and detection simultaneously with the read operation without temporarily storing the read data in the memory, the analysis of the print result can be performed in a short time without requiring analysis time. It is possible to detect abnormalities and a decrease in concentration.

In the above embodiment, in particular,
Although it has been described that a print check is performed for barcode printing, the barcode check printer 1 according to the present invention is described.
Since the error detection based on 0 always detects and compares the read data with the image data of the print data, the error detection can be applied not only to barcodes but also to characters, figures, color printers and the like.

Specifically, application to a color printer can be realized by using a color image sensor as the image sensor 17 and newly providing a density threshold value of the detection / storage unit 14.

It is apparent that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be appropriately changed within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a bar code check printer having a print check function for checking a bar code printed on a sheet, printing by the printer and dot by dot printing data are performed. Since the dots read by the image scanner are compared and detected in real time, the comparison detection operation can be shortened, and a sufficient printing check can be performed to guarantee the printing quality of the barcode.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a barcode check printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a dot information bit array in an image memory after detection.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a detection result of pass / fail determination based on comparison detection.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 bar code check printer 11 control unit 12 print data image memory 13 image sensor controller 14 detection / storage unit 15 image memory after detection 16 print head 17 image sensor a, b, c detection data

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A bar code check printer having a print check function for checking a bar code printed on a sheet of paper. In a bar code check printer, printing by the printer and dots read by an image scanner for each dot of print data are compared and detected in real time. A bar code check printer, 2. The bar code check printer according to claim 1, wherein the comparison detection is performed using two or more pieces of density information. 3. The image sensor according to claim 1, wherein the density information can be read by the image sensor in a state where printing is normally performed, a state where printing is not performed, and a standard state where printing is performed and printing quality can be guaranteed as a printer. 3. The bar code check printer according to claim 2, wherein the density level is set in three stages. 4. An image sensor for reading a printed bar code, and comparing density information read by the image sensor for each dot to determine whether or not a dot to be printed is printed. Detecting whether code is good or bad
4. The bar code check printer according to claim 1, further comprising a storage unit. 5. A control unit for controlling printing of a barcode on a sheet of paper, an image sensor controller for controlling the image sensor, a print data image memory for expanding image data of a barcode to be printed, and the detection / storage. 5. The bar code check printer according to claim 4, further comprising a post-detection image memory for storing a comparison detection result of printing by the unit. 6. A post-detection image memory in which a comparison detection result is stored in a dot arrangement state in which error information and density information at the time of reading can be identified.
Barcode check printer described in.